Ren Dillon, Director of Strategic Communications, CALS
Dillon is a filmmaker, writer, educator, and strategic communicator. A Kansas native, she moved to New York City (NYC) at age 17 to attend art school. She earned a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in photography, and an MFA from Columbia University in film (directing, writing and producing).
She spent over 25 years in NYC and Los Angeles working in the film and television industries as a producer, writer, and film director. Her screenplay, “Birds with Teeth,” a comedy about 19th century paleontology, won the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Award. Her film work has garnered multiple awards and has been screened at film festivals around the world.
She taught filmmaking and writing at Columbia University, Gibbs College, the Kansas City Art Institute, and the Art Institutes International. For three years she taught Emirate women at the Higher Colleges of Technology – Abu Dhabi Women’s College in the United Arab Emirates. Prior leadership roles include chair of film at the Art Institute of New York City, executive director of the Green Mountain Film Festival, and executive director of the Chandler Center for the Arts.
She owns a small farm in Montpelier VT, where she raises dairy, goats, saffron, and working dogs in addition to her creative endeavors.
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